Getting past it (some more)

Trump Neverending Story

When I'm driving around the countryside I sometimes like to scan the podcasts on my phone and see if there's anything I might listen to in order to pass the time. Sometimes it's Dan Carlin's Hardcore History or The Solopreneur Hour (becoming profitably unemployable) by Michael O'Neal that fills the drive-time hour but honestly, I'll listen to almost anything. Last fall I listened to a reading of The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan (wonderful) and also Shakespeare's Restless World via the BBC (also wonderful) but I'm not all highbrow - I even listened to the most imperfect messenger Glenn Beck and other "whack-jobs" (as DJT calls them) to, IDK, expand my mind(?). And sometimes I listen to the tears of my enemies tap, tap, tapping on the formica desktop underneath the mic in the podcast studio and for that I usually turn to NPR Politics Podcast or The Daily hosted by Michael Barbaro and broadcast from The Death Star on 42nd St. in NYC. Before I go any further on this topic I'd like to say one thing - Michael Barbaro sounds like a really nice guy on his podcast and I feel certain that if I were to meet him at a bar on the UWS or some cookout in the Hamptons that I'd enjoy talking with him so when I say he's my enemy I mean it in a fun loving and lighthearted way. On Wednesday Barbaro had NYTimes White House correspondent (and Clinton campaign stenographer) Maggie Haberman, who IS my enemy, join his podcast titled "How Trump Withstands So Many Controversies" and ruminate on why she can't seem to get past the election of Donald J. Trump to the presidency of the United States of America. M&M have been living this pain for years now and there was a bitter resignation in their voice as that listed the past "controversies" that Trump had somehow "withstood" and A. won the presidency and B. remained in office.

• Show opens with David Ramirez "I'm Not Going Anywhere" to set the tone.
• Michael intro to Maggie and podcast topic.
• Michael reads from a story he wrote October 8, 2016 - "Donald Trump’s Conduct Was Excused Again and Again. But Not This Time" peppered with audio of #NeverTrump GOP reactions.

"When Donald J. Trump promised to turn Muslims away from American shores, they wagged their fingers.
When he mimicked a journalist for his lifelong disability, they tsked-tsked.
When he mocked the mother of a valorous soldier killed in combat, they threatened to walk away from him.
But Republican leaders never did. They justified his behavior, they minimized his offenses, they excused his insults.
So why this?
Why did a decade-old three-minute video provoke a sudden revolt by party officials against their nominee, an uprising that could very well destroy their chances of taking the White House?"

I wish Michael Barbaro would read the KOTCB blog because so much of his angst would be mitigated or simply washed away if he did. Let's take it one at a time:

1. Trump's "promise to turn Muslims away" came the day after the San Bernardino mass murder in December 2015 and was suggested to last "until our elected representatives can figure out what the hell is going on" which THEY COULD NOT because the cause is "Unknown."
2. Trump did "mimic" NYTimes investigative reporter Serge Kovaleski (son of CIA agent and student of French philosophy) who claimed in 2001 that he saw mass celebrations in NJ Muslim communities after the 9/11 attacks and then recanted once Trump cited his reporting. In other words, Kovaleski lied and Trump mocked him for it - How do I know he lied? Because I was in NYC on 9/11 and I too saw Muslim's celebrating the jihadi attack. 
3. For some reason Michael left out the time Trump implied that Megyn Kelly was on the rag during the GOP debate in August 2015.
4. The Gold Star Mother who's son was killed when suicide bombers blew up a car in Iraq participated in one of the most shameless stunts the Democrats have ever pulled and I say that as a friend of Khizr Khan who understands where he's coming from but don't appreciate him hoisting the bloody body of his son up the Clinton flag pole and if my dad every tried to use my death as a political prop I would hope my mom would have something to say about it (actually, I know my mom would have a lot to say about it - not good).
5. Then Barbaro claims the GOP "leaders" didn't walk away from Trump despite this repulsive conduct - True, they didn't walk, they ran as fast as their Brook's Bros. clad legs could move their pasty old bodies. Was Barbaro not watching the establishment Republicans have an existential crisis over the Trump candidacy? What kind of "reporting" is it that ignores the #NeverTrump GOP shouting "never, never, never" while The Elvis from Queens cleans their stopped clock.
6. "So why this?" referring to the infamous Bush syndicate hot mic tape released two days before the second presidential debate - I think Billy Bush is still unemployed (talk about taking one for the team). And M&M play this straight - as though the tape of Trump talking about making a move on some socialite's wife and the liberties afforded celebrities (they let you do it... right Matt Lauer?) came out of nowhere - just sort of showed up on the evening news. Instead of being a coordinated attack by the GOP old guard to drive Trump off the political stage and start the mad scramble for a replacement which I'll guarantee would have ended up being JEB!

This is the opening 5 minutes and Maggie points out that this Access Hollywood Tape (BTW - one of the greatest names for a scandal of all time) was the "red line" for many Republicans which I found to be a very poor choice of words given the recent history of red lines for Democrats. Then she details the play by play from the Trump campaign (she was there) and how the candidate survived the controversy and got elected! The problem, it turns out, is not the Republican "leaders" but, in reality, the Republican voters. Citizens. We the People. Because they ignored the Bush hit on Trump and have been ignoring all the other transgressions against our democracy (which for the NYTimes means a country run by Democrats as in people with a (D) after their name) and let him stay in office. Even after the James Comey firing, the riots in Charlottesville, the Shithole country controversy and the list goes on and on including the Muro del vudú. And now THIS - "this new line in the sand" - where Trump believes Putin over his own intelligence agencies, which is not exactly what he said because Trump said he believed his intelligence but Putin strongly denied it, but is what Trump did and that's because Trump must have obviously given away something to get Putin to agreed to pull out of the joint opp and end the games. Maggie goes on to talk about the similarities between the Access Hollywood Tape and the Helsinki Press Conference - they're both things he did to himself and they're both on tape and he has subsequently questioned the wording of what he said. But there's one big difference - the NBC hot mic tape was 10 year old dog vomit sold as prime rib to the public and it was targeted at Trump but Helsinki presser was a turning of the tables directed by Trump and targeting his domestic enemies - especially the spy-craft black hats in the IC. Put another way, Billy Bush is a entertainment reporter but Vlad Putin is a master spy who knows where many bodies are buried and who shot them. Read through the transcript of the Helsinki news conference and see if you can find the gems scattered all around - like so:

PUTIN: I’d like to add something to this. After all, I was an intelligence officer myself. And I do know how dossiers are made up.{In fact, I created the dossier that the American IC used to open up their espionage investigation} Just a second. That’s the first thing. Not the second thing.{I started the whole thing and everything else follows} I believe that Russia is a democratic state and I hope you’re not denying this right to your own country, you’re not denying that United States is democracy. Do you believe the United States is a democracy?{Donald Trump was elected in a democratic process and is legitimate} And if so, if it is a democratic state, then the final conclusion in this kind of dispute can only be delivered by a trial, by the court. Not by the executive, by the law enforcement.{The FBI and DOJ can not run Trump out of office and if he's guilty of anything, which he's not, then it will have to be proved in a court by jury trial}

For instance, the concord company that is brought up is being accused, it’s being accused of interference, but this company does not constitute the Russian state. It does not represent the Russian state. And I brought several examples before. {These companies are independent entities and whatever connections we were maintaining while running this joint operation with the CIA are now severed}

Well, you have a lot of individuals in the United States{I could start naming A LOT of well known people here but for fun let me nuke Soros} — take George Soros, for instance, with multibillion capitals, but it doesn’t make him — his position, his posture the posture of the United States.{during the Obama administration Soros WAS the posture of the United States} No, it does not. It’s the same case. There is the issue of trying a case in the court and the final say is for the court to deliver.{and Putin could probably prove in a court of law that BHO was owned by Soros}

We are now talking about the individuals and not about particular states.{Would the US IC like me to continue to talk about individuals? No? I didn't think so} And as far as the most recent allegations is concerned about the Russian intelligence officers, we do have an intergovernmental treaty.{our spies talk to each other all the fucking time} Please do send us the request. We will analyze it properly and we’ll send a formal response.{don't start asking questions you don't want answered} As I said, we can extend this cooperation,{I can make things a lot worse for you IC people} but we should do it on a reciprocal basis. Because we would await our Russian counterparts to provide us access to the persons of interests for us who we believe can have something to do with intelligence service.{Did you hear what I just said? Are you listening Brennan?}


Let’s discuss the specific issues and not use the Russia and US Relationship as a loose change for this internal political struggle.{Russia is no longer going to assist the US IC in overthrowing the Trump presidency}

How do I know that I'm reading this right? It's pretty obvious when you see how the American IC reacted to this press conference.

Donald Trump’s press conference performance in Helsinki rises to & exceeds the threshold of “high crimes & misdemeanors.” It was nothing short of treasonous. Not only were Trump’s comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin. Republican Patriots: Where are you???

— John O. Brennan (@JohnBrennan) July 16, 2018

 So we go back to The Daily and listen to M&M wonder if Republicans actually understand their voters - by Republicans they mean the elected representatives in Congress who are separate and distinct from the voters who put them there which means they are not really "representatives" in any true sense - but we'll have to wait until November 2018 to find out. I think we're going to find out a lot sooner than that because it's the only way to get past it.